Update: Missing Toddler's Father Begs for His Return

The search is still on for 2-year-old Sky Metalwala, who was reportedly in Bellevue on Sunday morning while his mother took his 4-year-old sister to get help after they ran out of gas.

The search has focused on the Redmond apartment of his mother, identified as Julia Biryukova. Bellevue police, the FBI and other law enforcement searched the in the 8000 block of 161st Avenue Northeast in downtown Redmond on Sunday and Monday.

Sky's parents began divorce proceedings in 2010. The boy's father, Solomon Metalwala, submitted to a polygraph test Monday, though his attorney, Clay Terry, said Metalwala would return for additional polygraph tests.

"We still hope to find (Sky) alive," said Bellevue Police Department spokeswoman Carla Iafrate. "We've been talking with both the mom and the dad for the last day and a half...both parents have been cooperative."

Iafrate said that searchers were confident that they had adequately canvassed the Northtowne neighborhood where Sky was last reported seen by his mother. The search included knocking on doors in a nearby residential neighborhood, as well as searches of a business park and a wooded area, she said.

Terry said that the Metalwala family hasn't organized a search party because it does not appear that Sky wandered away from the car.

"We never thought for a minute that the child figured out how to open the car door and got out. The Bellevue police did an exhaustive search yesterday. Many dogs and lots of volunteers, and there was no evidence that the child got out of the car," Terry said. "We don't know where to go from here. If we had any idea, we'd have a search organized now."

Outside the Bellevue Police station at City Hall, Solomon Metalwala pleaded before television cameras for whoever had his son to "please return Sky to the fire department, please return Sky to a hospital. Please, he's just 2 years old."

"I'm scared," Metalwala said. "I'm a dad. But I'm going to be strong for my son."

In Redmond, residents at the Veloce Apartments reported that the FBI went from door to door on Monday to ask general questions about the family. Law enforcement was also seen going through the Dumpsters at the apartment complex, and residents heard what sounded like helicopters overhead overnight.

"The FBI came to the door this morning. They asked general questions, asked if we knew the family," said resident Ariana Burrow, who said she didn't know Biryukova or Sky. "I am following the news just like everyone else. I hope they find him safe. It's kind of bizarre."

Police ask anyone who was traveling Sunday morning along 112th Avenue Northeast, between State Route 520 and Northeast 24th Street, to call police at the NORCOM dispatch center at 425-577-5656.

Meanwhile, King County District Court documents obtained by Patch show the boy's parents were cited in 2009 for leaving a child in a car in Redmond. The case was dismissed after the parents agreed to a year of probation, parenting classes and community service.

During their ongoing divorce proceedings, both of the parents had accused each other of posing a threat to the couple's two children.

In a 2010 protection order requested by Biryukova, the mother said her husband had been physically abusive toward her and had threatened to kill her if she sought custody of their children.

"The most recent (incidents) have been his threats to kill me if I say anything against him or if in any way I proceed with action of seeking custody of our two small children," Biryukova wrote in the protection order request, which has been obtained by Patch. "I live in constant fear of my life and my children's life."

For his part, Solomon Metalwala said Biryukova was battling a mental illness, was suicidal, and had dreams of harming her children.

"She began to have dreams about killing our children, even telling me of her dreams about strangling our youngest child," Metlawala said in a court document related to the couple's divorce that was filed in King County Superior Court and obtained by Patch.

The Associated Press has published a story that goes into more details surrounding the couple's troubled relationship.

Bellevue Police have said both parents are cooperating in the investigation of the boy's disappearance.

KOMO 4 News reported Monday that the couple's daughter is in state custody, and that Bellevue police found no gas can near the mother's car on Sunday and were able to start the vehicle immediately.

Sky has brown eyes, dark buzz-cut hair and was wearing a dark gray hooded sweatshirt with striped Carter pants. The attached picture is exactly what he is wearing when he went missing, according to the police.

This is a developing news story. Please check back with Redmond Patch for more details on the search and investigation.

Editor's Note: Information from Bellevue Patch was included in this report.